.\"
.\" SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-2-Clause
.\"
.\" Copyright (c) 1997 David E. O'Brien
.\"
.\" All rights reserved.
.\"
.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
.\" are met:
.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
.\"
.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE DEVELOPERS ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR
.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES
.\" OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.
.\" IN NO EVENT SHALL THE DEVELOPERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT,
.\" INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT
.\" NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE,
.\" DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY
.\" THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
.\" (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF
.\" THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
.\"
.Dd September 10, 2025
.Dt PORTS 7
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm ports
.Nd contributed applications
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Fx
Ports Collection
offers a simple way to compile and install third party applications.
It is also used to build packages, to be installed using
.Xr pkg 8 .
.Pp
The ports tree, typically located at
.Pa /usr/ports ,
consists of subdirectories, one for each category; those in turn contain
individual ports.
Each port is a directory with metadata and patches necessary to make
the original application source code compile and run on
.Fx .
Compiling an application is as simple as typing
.Dq Li "make build"
in the port directory.
The
.Pa Makefile
automatically fetches the
application source code, either from a local disk or the network, unpacks it,
applies the patches, and compiles it.
It also recursively handles dependencies \(em other pieces of software
the port depends on in order to build and work.
Afterwards,
.Dq Li "make install"
installs the application.
.Pp
The
.Fx
Ports Collection is maintained in several branches, which differ mostly
by versions of software provided: the
.Em main
branch contains all the latest changes and corresponds to the
.Em latest
package set, while the
.Em quarterly
branches only provide critical fixes.
The
.Em main
branch can be cloned and updated from the Git repository located at:
.Pp
.Lk https://git.FreeBSD.org/ports.git
.Pp
so eg:
.Pp
.Cm git clone https://git.FreeBSD.org/ports.git
.Pp
The
.Em quarterly
branches can be found in Git as branches like
.Pa yyyyQn
, where
.Em yyyy
indicates the year and
.Em n
indicates the quarter
.Po 1 to 4
.Pc , eg:
.Pp
.Cm git clone -b 2021Q2 https://git.FreeBSD.org/ports.git
.Pp
It is generally a good idea to use the
.Nm
branch that matches the
.Xr pkg 8
repository being used.
By default, for
.Fx CURRENT
the
.Xr pkg 8
is configured to install packages built from the
.Em main
branch, while for
.Fx STABLE
or RELEASE versions it is configured to install packages built from
the latest
.Em quarterly
branch.
Currently configured
.Xr pkg 8
repository can be verified by looking at the
.Em url
field in
.Cm pkg -vv
output.
.Pp
For more information about using ports, see the
.Dq "Packages and Ports" section
in
.Sm off
.%B "The FreeBSD Handbook"
.No \&:
.Sm on
.Pp
.Lk https://docs.FreeBSD.org/en/books/handbook/ports/
.Pp
For information about creating new ports, see
.Sm off
.%B "The Porter's Handbook"
.No \&:
.Sm on
.Pp
.Lk https://docs.FreeBSD.org/en/books/porters-handbook/
.Sh TARGETS
Some of the
.Xr make 1
targets work recursively through subdirectories.
This lets you, for example, install all of the
.Dq Li biology
ports with one command.
The targets that do this are
.Cm build , checksum , clean , configure ,
.Cm depends , extract , fetch , install ,
and
.Cm package .
.Pp
The following targets will be run automatically by each proceeding
target in order.
That is,
.Cm build
will be run (if necessary) by
.Cm install ,
and so on all the way to
.Cm fetch .
Usually, you will only use the
.Cm install
target.
.Bl -tag -width ".Cm configure"
.It Cm config
Configure
.Va OPTIONS
for this port using
.Xr portconfig 1 Pq Pa ports/ports-mgmt/portconfig .
.It Cm fetch
Fetch all of the files needed to build this port from the sites
listed in
.Va MASTER_SITES
and
.Va PATCH_SITES .
See
.Va FETCH_CMD , MASTER_SITE_OVERRIDE
and
.Va MASTER_SITE_BACKUP .
.It Cm checksum
Verify that the fetched distfile's checksum matches the one the port was
tested against.
If the distfile's checksum does not match, it also fetches the distfiles
which are missing or failed the checksum calculation.
Defining
.Va NO_CHECKSUM
will skip this step.
.It Cm depends
Install
(or compile if only compilation is necessary)
any dependencies of the current port.
When called by the
.Cm extract
or
.Cm fetch
targets, this is run in piecemeal as
.Cm fetch-depends , build-depends ,
etc.
Defining
.Va NO_DEPENDS
will skip this step.
.It Cm extract
Expand the distfile into a work directory.
.It Cm patch
Apply any patches that are necessary for the port.
.It Cm configure
Configure the port.
Some ports will ask you questions during this stage.
See
.Va INTERACTIVE
and
.Va BATCH .
.It Cm build
Build the port.
This is the same as calling the
.Cm all
target.
.It Cm install
Install the port and register it with the package system.
This is all you really need to do.
.It Cm install-missing-packages
Install missing dependencies from packages instead of building them.
.El
.Pp
The following targets are not run during the normal install process.
.Bl -tag -width ".Cm fetch-recursive"
.It Cm showconfig
Display
.Va OPTIONS
config for this port.
.It Cm showconfig-recursive
Display
.Va OPTIONS
config for this port and all its dependencies.
.It Cm rmconfig
Remove
.Va OPTIONS
config for this port.
.It Cm rmconfig-recursive
Remove
.Va OPTIONS
config for this port and all its dependencies.
.It Cm config-conditional
Skip the ports which have already had their
.Va OPTIONS
configured.
.It Cm config-recursive
Configure
.Va OPTIONS
for this port and all its dependencies using
.Xr portconfig 1 Pq Pa ports/ports-mgmt/portconfig .
.It Cm fetch-list
Show the list of files to fetch in order to build the port (but not its
dependencies).
.It Cm fetch-recursive
Fetch the distfiles of the port and all its dependencies.
.It Cm fetch-recursive-list
Show list of files that would be retrieved by
.Cm fetch-recursive .
.It Cm build-depends-list , run-depends-list
Print a list of all the direct compile or run dependencies for this port.
.It Cm all-depends-list
Print a list of all recursive dependencies for this port.
.It Cm pretty-print-build-depends-list , pretty-print-run-depends-list
Print a list of all the recursive compile or run dependencies for this port by
port name and version.
.It Cm missing
Print a list of missing dependencies to be installed for the port.
.It Cm clean
Remove the expanded source code.
This recurses to dependencies unless
.Va NOCLEANDEPENDS
is defined.
.It Cm distclean
Remove the port's distfiles and perform the
.Cm clean
target.
The
.Cm clean
portion recurses to dependencies unless
.Va NOCLEANDEPENDS
is defined, but the
.Cm distclean
portion never recurses
(this is perhaps a bug).
.It Cm reinstall
Use this to restore a port after using
.Xr pkg-delete 8
when you should have used
.Cm deinstall .
.It Cm deinstall
Remove an installed port from the system, similar to
.Xr pkg-delete 8 .
.It Cm deinstall-all
Remove all installed ports with the same
.Va PKGORIGIN
from the system.
.It Cm package
Make a binary package for the port.
The port will be installed if it has not already been.
The package is a
.Pa .pkg
file that you can use to
install the port on other machines with
.Xr pkg-add 8 .
If the directory specified by
.Va PACKAGES
does not exist, the package will be put in
.Pa /usr/ports/category/port/work/pkg .
See
.Va PKGREPOSITORY
and
.Va PKGFILE
for more information.
.It Cm package-recursive
Like
.Cm package ,
but makes a package for each depending port as well.
.It Cm package-name
Prints the name with version of the port.
.It Cm readmes
Create a port's
.Pa README.html .
This can be used from
.Pa /usr/ports
to create a browsable web of all ports on your system!
.It Cm search
Search the
.Pa INDEX
file for the pattern specified by the
.Va key
(searches the port name, comment, and dependencies),
.Va name
(searches the port name only),
.Va path
(searches the port path),
.Va info
(searches the port info),
.Va maint
(searches the port maintainer),
.Va cat
(searches the port category),
.Va bdeps
(searches the port build-time dependency),
.Va rdeps
(searches the port run-time dependency),
.Va www
(searches the port web site)
.Xr make 1
variables, and their exclusion counterparts:
.Va xname , xkey
etc.
For example, one would type:
.Pp
.Dl "cd /usr/ports && make search name=query"
.Pp
to find all ports whose
name matches
.Dq Li query .
Results include the matching ports' path, comment, maintainer,
build dependencies, and run dependencies.
.Bd -literal -offset indent
cd /usr/ports && make search name=pear- \e
    xbdeps=apache
.Ed
.Pp
To find all ports whose
names contain
.Dq Li pear-
and which do not have apache
listed in build-time dependencies.
.Bd -literal -offset indent
cd /usr/ports && make search name=pear- \e
    xname='ht(tp|ml)'
.Ed
.Pp
To find all ports whose names contain
.Dq Li pear- ,
but not
.Dq Li html
or
.Dq Li http .
.Bd -literal -offset indent
make search key=apache display=name,path,info keylim=1
.Ed
.Pp
To find ports that contain
.Dq Li apache
in either of the name, path, info
fields, ignore the rest of the record.
.Pp
By default the search is not case-sensitive.
In order to make it case-sensitive you can use the
.Va icase
variable:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
make search name=p5-R icase=0
.Ed
.It Cm quicksearch
Reduced
.Cm search
output.
Only display name, path and info.
.It Cm describe
Generate a one-line description of each port for use in the
.Pa INDEX
file.
.It Cm maintainer
Display the port maintainer's email address.
.It Cm index
Create
.Pa /usr/ports/INDEX ,
which is used by the
.Cm pretty-print-*
and
.Cm search
targets.
Running the
.Cm index
target will ensure your
.Pa INDEX
file is up to date with your ports tree.
.It Cm fetchindex
Fetch the
.Pa INDEX
file from the
.Fx
cluster.
.El
.Sh ENVIRONMENT
You can change all of these.
.Bl -tag -width ".Va MASTER_SITES"
.It Va PORTSDIR
Location of the ports tree.
This is
.Pa /usr/ports
by default.
.It Va WRKDIRPREFIX
Where to create any temporary files.
Useful if
.Va PORTSDIR
is read-only (perhaps mounted from a CD-ROM).
.It Va DISTDIR
Where to find/put distfiles, normally
.Pa distfiles/
in
.Va PORTSDIR .
.It Va SU_CMD
Command used to elevate privilege to configure and install a port.
The unprivileged user must have write access to
.Va WRKDIRPREFIX
and
.Va DISTDIR .
The default is
.Ql /usr/bin/su root -c .
Many users set it to
.Ql /usr/local/bin/sudo -E sh -c
for convenience.
.It Va PACKAGES
Used only for the
.Cm package
target; the base directory for the packages tree, normally
.Pa packages/
in
.Va PORTSDIR .
If this directory exists, the package tree will be (partially) constructed.
This directory does not have to exist; if it does not, packages will be
placed into the current directory, or you can define one of
.Bl -tag -width ".Va PKGREPOSITORY"
.It Va PKGREPOSITORY
Directory to put the package in.
.It Va PKGFILE
The full path to the package.
.El
.It Va LOCALBASE
Where existing things are installed and where to search for files when
resolving dependencies (usually
.Pa /usr/local ) .
.It Va PREFIX
Where to install this port (usually set to the same as
.Va LOCALBASE ) .
.It Va MASTER_SITES
Primary sites for distribution files if not found locally.
.It Va PATCH_SITES
Primary locations for distribution patch files if not found
locally.
.It Va MASTER_SITE_FREEBSD
If set, go to the master
.Fx
site for all files.
.It Va MASTER_SITE_OVERRIDE
Try going to these sites for all files and patches, first.
.It Va MASTER_SITE_BACKUP
Try going to these sites for all files and patches, last.
.It Va RANDOMIZE_MASTER_SITES
Try the download locations in a random order.
.It Va MASTER_SORT
Sort the download locations according to user supplied pattern.
Example:
.Dl .dk .sunet.se .se dk.php.net .no .de heanet.dl.sourceforge.net
.It Va MASTER_SITE_INDEX
Where to get
.Pa INDEX
source built on
.Fx
cluster (for
.Cm fetchindex
target).
Defaults to
.Pa https://download.FreeBSD.org/ports/index/ .
.It Va FETCHINDEX
Command to get
.Pa INDEX
(for
.Cm fetchindex
target).
Defaults to
.Dq Li "fetch -am" .
.It Va NOCLEANDEPENDS
If defined, do not let
.Cm clean
recurse to dependencies.
.It Va FETCH_CMD
Command to use to fetch files.
Normally
.Xr fetch 1 .
.It Va FORCE_PKG_REGISTER
If set, overwrite any existing package registration on the system.
.It Va INTERACTIVE
If defined, only operate on a port if it requires interaction.
.It Va BATCH
If defined, only operate on a port if it can be installed 100% automatically.
.It Va DISABLE_VULNERABILITIES
If defined, disable check for security vulnerabilities using
.Xr pkg-audit 8
when installing new ports.
.It Va NO_IGNORE
If defined, allow installation of ports marked as
.Aq Va FORBIDDEN .
The default behavior of the Ports framework is to abort when the
installation of a forbidden port is attempted.
Of course, these ports may not work as expected, but if you really know
what you are doing and are sure about installing a forbidden port, then
.Va NO_IGNORE
lets you do it.
.It Va NO_CHECKSUM
If defined, skip verifying the port's checksum.
.It Va TRYBROKEN
If defined, attempt to build a port even if it is marked as
.Aq Va BROKEN .
.It Va PORT_DBDIR
Directory where the results of configuring
.Va OPTIONS
are stored.
Defaults to
.Pa /var/db/ports .
Each port where
.Va OPTIONS
have been configured will have a uniquely named sub-directory, containing a
single file
.Pa options .
.El
.Sh MAKE VARIABLES
The following list provides a name and short description for many of the
variables that are used when building ports.
More information on these and other related variables may be found in
.Pa ${PORTSDIR}/Mk/*
and the
.Fx
Porter's Handbook.
.Bl -tag -width "WITH_CCACHE_BUILD"
.It Va WITH_DEBUG
.Pq Vt bool
If set, debugging symbols are installed for ports binaries.
.It Va WITH_DEBUG_PORTS
A list of origins for which to set
.Va WITH_DEBUG .
.It Va DEBUG_FLAGS
.Pq Default: Ql -g
Additional
.Va CFLAGS
to set when
.Va WITH_DEBUG
is set.
.It Va WITH_CCACHE_BUILD
.Pq Vt bool
If set, enables the use of
.Xr ccache 1
for building ports.
.It Va CCACHE_DIR
Which directory to use for the
.Xr ccache 1
data.
.El
.Sh FILES
.Bl -tag -width ".Pa /usr/ports/Mk/bsd.port.mk" -compact
.It Pa /usr/ports
The default ports directory.
.It Pa /usr/ports/Mk/bsd.port.mk
The big Kahuna.
.El
.Sh EXAMPLES
.Bl -tag -width 0n
.It Sy Example 1\&: No Building and Installing a Port
.Pp
The following command builds and installs Emacs.
.Bd -literal -offset 2n
.Li # Ic cd /usr/ports/editors/emacs
.Li # Ic make install
.Ed
.It Sy Example 2\&: No Installing Dependencies with Xr pkg 8
.Pp
The following example shows how to build and install a port without having to
build its dependencies.
Instead, the dependencies are downloaded via
.Xr pkg 8 .
.Bd -literal -offset 2n
.Li # Ic make install-missing-packages
.Li # Ic make install
.Ed
.Pp
It is especially useful, when the dependencies are costly
in time and resources to build
.Pq like Pa lang/rust .
The drawback is that
.Xr pkg 8
offers only packages built with the default set of
.Va OPTIONS .
.It Sy Example 3\&: No Building a Non-Default Flavor of a Port
.Pp
The following command builds a non-default flavor of a port.
(In this case
.Pa devel/py-pip
is going to be built with Python 3.7 support.)
.Bd -literal -offset 2n
.Li # Ic cd /usr/ports/devel/py-pip
.Li # Ic env FLAVOR=py37 make build
.Ed
.It Sy Example 4\&: No Setting Ports Options via Xr make.conf 5
.Pp
The following lines present various ways of configuring ports options via
.Xr make.conf 5
(as an alternative to, e.g., running
.Dq Li make config ) :
.Bd -literal -offset 2n
# Enable NLS for all ports unless configured otherwise
# using the options dialog.
OPTIONS_SET=		NLS
# Disable DOCS for all ports overriding the options set
# via the options dialog.
OPTIONS_UNSET_FORCE=	DOCS
# Disable DOCS and EXAMPLES for the shells/zsh port.
shells_zsh_UNSET=	DOCS EXAMPLES
.Ed
.Pp
These and other options-related variables are documented in
.Pa /usr/ports/Mk/bsd.options.mk .
.It Sy Example 5\&: No Setting Xr make 1 Variables for Specific Ports via Xr make.conf 5
.Pp
The following example shows how to set arbitrary
.Xr make 1
variables only specific ports:
.Bd -literal -offset 2n
# Set DISABLE_MAKE_JOBS for the lang/rust port:
\&.if ${.CURDIR:M*/lang/rust}
DISABLE_MAKE_JOBS=	yes
TRYBROKEN=		yes
\&.endif
.Ed
.It Sy Example 6\&: No Debugging Ports
By default ports are built and packaged without debugging support (e.g.,
debugging symbols are stripped from binaries, optimization flags are used for
compiling, verbose logging is disabled).
Whether ports are built with debugging symbols can be controlled by the
settings in
.Xr make.conf 5 ,
e.g.,
.Bd -literal -offset 2n
# Enable debugging for all ports.
WITH_DEBUG=		yes
# Enable debugging for selected ports.
WITH_DEBUG_PORTS=	mail/dovecot security/krb5
.Ed
.Pp
It is also possible to use the debug variables on the command line:
.Bd -literal -offset 2n
.Li # Ic make WITH_DEBUG DEBUG_FLAGS="-g -O0" build
.Ed
.Pp
See the
.Sx MAKE VARIABLES
section to learn more about the debug variables.
.Pp
To understand the details of what happens when the debug variables are set it
is best to consult the files located at
.Pa ${PORTSDIR}/Mk/*
.Po Pa bsd.port.mk
in particular
.Pc .
.Pp
If debugging is enabled for a specific port, the ports framework will:
.Bl -bullet
.It
Add
.Va DEBUG_FLAGS
(defaults to
.Ql -g )
to
.Va CFLAGS .
.It
Try to prevent the binaries from being stripped (including checking the install
target to replace
.Ql install-strip
with
.Ql install ) .
Whether a binary has been stripped can be checked with
.Xr file 1 .
.It
Try to enable other debugging features like debug build type or verbose logging.
However, this is port-specific and the ports framework might not be aware of
each supported debugging feature a given piece of software has to offer).
.El
.El
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr make 1 ,
.Xr make.conf 5 ,
.Xr development 7 ,
.Xr pkg 7
.Pp
Additional developer documentation:
.Bl -dash -width "" -offset indent
.It
.Xr portlint 1
.It
.Pa /usr/ports/Mk/bsd.port.mk
.El
.Pp
Additional user documentation:
.Bl -dash -width "" -offset indent
.It
.Xr pkg 8
.It
.Lk "https://ports.FreeBSD.org" "Searchable index of all ports"
.El
.Sh HISTORY
The Ports Collection
appeared in
.Fx 1.0 .
It has since spread to
.Nx ,
.Ox ,
and macOS.
.Sh AUTHORS
.An -nosplit
This manual page was originated by
.An David O'Brien .
.Sh BUGS
Ports documentation is split over four places \(em
.Pa /usr/ports/Mk/bsd.port.mk ,
.%B "The Porter's Handbook" ,
the
.Dq "Packages and Ports"
chapter of
.%B "The FreeBSD Handbook" ,
and
this manual page.
